Spoilers Star Trek: Picard 2x01 - "The Star Gazer"

The Excelsior class is the B-52 of the early centuries of the Federation.

 

Makes you wonder why they didn't just have her be her old character. Unless it's one of those things were they would have to pay the writer who first introduced her character. Kind of the same reason Tom Paris was on Voyager instead of NIck Lacarno.

 

I feel that response raises even more questions.

 

She was really just an extra in the transporter room wasn't she? I can't see how someone would get credit for that, unlike Nicholas Locarno.

 

This was not my week. I'll have to rewatch after a couple weeks when work isn't shit. Too much nostalgia bate for me.

No rating. Wouldn't be fair.

 

Calling it now. “Borg” queen is gonna turn out to be someone that Picard is or was close with. The road not taken as Q keeps emphasizing

 

Was it my imagination, or was Seven acting a bit more like Seven on Voyager here? Not a total reversion, but she came across more as a continuation of that character than the total reboot we saw in Season 1.

 

I actually thought she was a nice continuation from season one, particularly on La Sirena. Perhaps she was a little more stiff on Stargazer.

 

I just detected a bit more of that monotone thing in her voice on the Stargazer. Maybe she just reverts a bit when she's exposed to old wounds like the Borg?

 

I noticed it too. Her voice was lower in tone and timbre, and sounded more like Seven of Nine whereas last season she sounded like Jeri Ryan.

I was worried about something similar with Guinan; in the trailer she sounded like Whoopi Goldberg and I was wondering if she forgot how to play the character but it was fine in the episode.

 

Solid episode. Good start for season 2. Glad we are done with Zhit Vash.
Uniforms fit better. Characters are instantly more likeable and gel well together. They removed the racing stripes from Sirena. Q!
With that said, I do have nitpicks.

Was a little bit too dark with the space scenes. I wanted to see the fleet a little more clearly.

Nobody listens to their Captain anymore when he shouts stop firing! What a bunch of idiots.

An Irish Romulan that speaks two dialects of Irish.

"Starfleet, we found an anomaly, please advise". (do you want Starfleet to hold your hand too? How about scanning the thing)

and....

I sensed a connection to Picard's mother when the Queen said "Look up". Also, they didn't show her face. If they connect the Borg Queen to Picard's Mother then I'm gonna put my fist through the bloody TV screen.

Hope things improve for you later and you'll see it with fresh eyes.

 

It helps that her voice hasn't changed a tick - several lines sounded identical to her delivery on Voyager.

 

The Borg Queen likely came from the alternate universe and specifically asked for Picard. That means she knows who Picard is - either in this universe or (more likely) her home universe.

We also know that Earth (or whatever government it is) defeated the Borg, and alt-Picard was a great war hero.

It's possible that the Borg assimilated alt-Picard's mother and turned her into a Borg Queen. And that alt-Picard's resentment towards the Borg at taking away the one woman that he loved drove him to spearhead the conquest and destruction of the alt-Borg.

 

Jeri's only 54 - a bit too young still to get any hint of "old woman voice."

 

That's an interesting idea. That I would be cool with.

 

Very nice overall, although I really hope it doesn't "fall apart" like Season 1 felt like it did. That started with a great first episode (or few episodes) too.
But grr, no mention of Beverly Crusher by name - do you think she was the one who really got away/was let go in his conversation with Guinan?

 

You know it's funny, but this season of DSC seems like it was written by the faculty of a psychotherapy department at a university or something. The "therapy speak" permeates a lot of the character interactions and breaks the immersion for me. I like DSC! But this season seems like it's actually what some people hyperbolically say TNG was. The thing about TNG is that through Troi there was a literal therapist on the ship/crew which provided an organic reason for the occasional (and not nearly as often as some detractors say) foray into psychological language and framing. In DSC, they had to jam the MD into a psychologist/psychiatrist role and every other character sounds like a therapist too, even the cool dark shady intelligence guy from last season. I am not enjoying it as much. Nothing against therapy either, it just is out of place on a big budget sci-fi TV show.

The season premiere of PIC had a lot of emotional introspection and whatever but it was done in a much more organic way that was true to what we know about the characters. They seem to be adding a "tragic backstory" to JLP's past: unless I'm misinterpreting they seem to have suggested that his father was abusive to his mother? This would be a new spin on the character I think. I am interested to see where it will go. I will say that what I appreciated about this episode was that JLP sounded and acted like JLP for the most part and the Federation/Starfleet seemed a bit more like what you'd expect (less "shut the fuck up.").

 

I noticed that she did not address him as Locutus.

 

Yes! To me this is actually a good thing.

 

Ok, one wee thing - I am a wee bit disturbed that Seven combined all the Rios holograms into one. Like that's so Tuvix it hurts, and a strange thing for a person whose best friend for several years was a hologram.